The last big tournament of 2023 in esports has come and gone, as the BLAST Premier World Final in Abu Dhabi went down on Sunday, with Vitality winning in a dominating 2-0 victory over FaZe Clan. The tournament got the deserved final featuring the two best teams over the course of the year, although one of them didn’t show up on the server.
FaZe clan had a new look after they added Frozen to the roster before the finals began, but they failed to get beyond seven rounds in either map. Their opponents, Vitality’s CT side, overpowered FaZe Clan attacks, and FaZe’s CT side only won a total of three rounds compared to Vitality’s 11.
One of the excuses that many have given FaZe Clan is that their new roster hasn’t been able to gell because of time, although that could be brushed aside considering that Vitality had a newcomer, mezii, warming up to his role in the server.
Undeniably, FaZe Clan has started the CS2 era impressively, but their BLAST World Finals have ended in an embarrassing final loss, short of expectations for their standards.
Vitality’s roster wasn’t a pushover, nevertheless, as they were spearheaded by their superstar AWPer and ZyWoO.
ZyWoO’s performance was Hodor-inspired as he helped frustrate FaZe Clan to lose. The red-and-black-clad squad only won two more rounds across Nuke. ZyWoO personally notched a staggering 1.69 HLTV 2.0 rating across both maps, with over 100 ADR to boot, as he took advantage of FaZe’s weaknesses.
The win will give Vitality the momentum to head into the Major season. Vitality and FaZe will be some of the favorites for the PGL’s Copenhagen Major in March of 2024. However, while Vitality may not change much before that time, it seems like FaZe might need a bit of roster shuffling and synergy.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
